The Viscosity Races could work very well as an idea for students this coming year. I plan on holding a Science Fair again, and this would be a great activity for students to complete.
The Paleontology Lab was fascinating. It was interesting to see the work that goes into salvaging & preserving fossils. I’m wondering if there is a way to have a distance learning opportunity by having students observe the paleontology lab technicians at work and then asking questions.
Day 4: I enjoyed the hands-on experiments and participating in the showcase of some of the Learning Labs the Perot outreach program shared with us. I also liked the connection between the activities from prior days that focused on high school TEKS to the lower-grade activities for today. For example, we saw the vinegar & baking soda having a chemical reaction to water and O2. We also got to see the chemical formula on paper.
It was interesting to attend today’s session at the Perot. I had not completed high-school level chemistry since, well, high school. It was neat to have the hands-on activities and I (maybe I’m the only one) enjoyed solving the equations that were part of the explorations.
Hopefully, we can complete this summer session with activities that can relate to the elementary level and get some feedback from the high school educators on what they would like for us to ensure we go over in class when they are younger.
I will use some of the terminology I acquired during this training with my students to help them become accustomed to the higher-level vocabulary students must acquire.
In an elementary setting, I do not think I will burn many items, but I will use the concept of heat transfer instead of just saying, “Getting hot or getting cold.”
Mr. Tarver's Science Class 